Hey, everybody. I'm Guy Fieri and we're rolling ou
looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins and dives.
This trip...
[laughs hysterically]
...we're grabbing all kinds of good foods...
That's capital T tender.
...put out by great people.
You're a poet and you didn't even know it.
There's soul cooked with heart in Indianapolis...
This is a must-see, must-visit, must-experience.
...a flavor bonanza near Boston...
It's everything you wanna cook the way you wanna cook it.
That is ridiculous.
...and in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey...
-There you go, that's the bite I want. -I dig it.
[Guy] ...a whole world of Latin coming straight out of Queens.
The food basically came from a dollar and a dream.
-Amen, brother. -You're a good dude.
That's all right here, right now
on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
[theme music playing]
All right. Hunter and I are here in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.
Hunter, I say, Jersey, you say, what kind of food?
-Oh, pizza, of course. Okay. -Okay, now, something different.
Uh... Latin food,
[Hunter] You're talking about, like, Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican?
How about all of them together?
[Hunter] What, you mean, like, Latin fusion?
Wait a second. You've been to this place before?
Hunter, this is Heights 167.
You never told me you came here.
Colombian chorizo.
You get to travel the world whenever you come to Heights.
Well, the tastes of Central and South America.
[Eric] Peruvian Shrimp.
-Flavors are off the charts. -And Eric's amazing.
Doing it with a lot of passion.
[woman] And when it comes from the heart,
it just elevates it to another level.
[Guy] All that love is coming from chef and owner Eric Lucero,
who came here from Queens
and opened this spot to honor the melting pot of his old neighborhood.
[Eric] It's named after Jackson Heights.
167, that's the languages spoken.
-So the numbers go into the... spelling. -[exclaims]
I'm like, "Oh, man, this is genius."
Oh, you're a poet, and you didn't even know it.
Yeah, I didn't even know it.
-"I didn't even know it." -[chuckles]
[Eric] I missed this type of food.
-[Guy] All the food that you grew up with. -[Eric] Yes.
Papa Rellana, Table 3.
Today I had the Papas Rellanas. Basically a deep fried potato.
Inside, you have the seasoned beef
drizzled with that magic green sauce.
It's so good.
We're gonna make the picadillo sauce for the filling
that we put into our Papa Rellana.
-Chipotles in adobo? -[Eric] Yeah.
-Onions, tomatoes, fresh garlic... -[Hunter] Salt?
[Eric] Black pepper, fresh cumin...
-[Guy] Cumin seed... -[Eric] Water.
Blend it all up.
Not too much, though.
I don't like spicy food.
-Don't tell the other Mexicans you don't like spicy. -I know. I know.
People, they think I'm not Mexican anymore.
Let's make the filling.
Oil, onion...
-[Guy] Ground beef? -[Eric] Yeah.
-Picadillo sauce. -[Guy] The sazon?
So we're gonna let this cook down.
[Eric] Churn, and then we have it ready for our potato croquette.
-Mashed potatoes... -[Eric] Put egg.
[Guy] Works as a little binder.
[Eric] Salt, a little pepper.
Grab, like, a nice little ball,
pop a little hole in there,
fill it with picadillo, Oaxaca cheese.
-[Hunter] Mmm-hmm. -Mexican mozzarella.
Yeah. Keep them in the fridge till it comes out firmer,
and then we just have to put it into our batter.
Flour, water, egg, black pepper,
-a little bit of sazon to give it a nice color. -Nice.
-[Guy] I'm gonna skewer 'em. -[Eric] Yeah.
-Then I bathe it. -[Guy] Versus just dipping it in there.
-And then we fry it. -[Eric] Yep.
[Hunter] Let it sit for a second.
Right now, we're gonna make our green magic sauce.
Mayo, cilantro, jalapenos, minced garlic.
This is the...
Ooh. Fanta.
[Eric] No. Aji amarillo paste.
Aji. A-J-I.
-Black pepper. -[Eric] Black pepper,
salt, olive oil,
freshly squeezed lime juice.
-And we blend it. -[whirring]
-[Eric] The croquettes are fried off. -[Hunter] Look at those.
[Eric] A little green magic.
[Hunter] Look at that.
[Guy] Yeah. There we go, that's the bite I want.
[Eric] There you go.
Mmm. A little bit of a kick on the back end.
-Yeah. A little bit, yeah. -Perfect. Not too much.
The batter gives some an interesting texture that I wasn't expecting.
[Hunter] You get the crunch, but it doesn't just fall apart on you.
[crackling]
I heard that one.
[Guy] Piccadillo is delicious.
You've got to have the Oaxaca cheese in there.
-Nice, creamy mashed potato. -Mmm-hmm.
-[Guy] And the magic sauce... -[Hunter] The sauce is magic.
-Delicious. -Yes.
[Eric] Putting the batter on the Papa Rellana.
That beef has some kind of special seasoning.
It's out of this world.
And that green magic sauce, I could drink out of a bottle.
This is my buddy Tom from Landmark Hospitality Group.
What did you think of the Papas Rellanas?
Can't wait to, uh, finish this conversation and finish those.
No, what he said to you is,
"I wish Guy would just leave my table."
Birria roll, ready to go.
How he does everything here, that's just amazing.
They planted their flag here, and I think the community has really rallied around it.
[Guy] And it's not just here because he moved right next door
to the restaurant owned by his dad and his late mom.
Eric's dad. Very nice to meet you.
It's very difficult 'cause I know this is the picture
of your wife up here.
I just lost my dad,
and I know that they're all around us and supporting us.
What has made the success for you in this country?
Working hard. We're starting from nothing, from zero.
I learned from him that you can make anything possible.
And I'm like, "You know what? I could do the same thing over here."
Birria Platter, table number 7, ready.
The Birria Platter has short rib and brisket,
and it comes with rice and beans.
It's delicious.
We're gonna have our Heights Birria platter today.
We're making the Birria sauce.
Bit of oil, onion...
Did you get a lot of these recipes from your mom?
Yeah. This is like, uh,
you start smelling it and then you start getting flashbacks.
Dry ancho, and guajillo chili, and some garlic.
You start coughing and crying?
That's how I know it's ready for the next step.
-[Guy] Roman tomatoes. -And then it'll start getting all mushy.
-The culinary term of "mushy." -It is.
[Eric] Cinnamon, thyme, black peppercorn, allspice,
-comino, oregano, a little bay leaf, vinegar... -[Guy] Vinegar,
-and some water. -[Eric] Cook this down for about two hours.
-Blend it all up. -[whirring]
[Eric] Now we're gonna make our beef birria.
-Water, salt, brisket. -[Guy] Okay.
[Eric] Sauce in.
[Guy] Then the short rib on the bone.
-This is gonna go for a few hours. -Yep.
Pull the meat out, drain the consomme,
chop up the meat.
-What do we make next? -Rice and beans.
Regular oil, onions, bell peppers
cook it down and you start smelling it,
tomato sauce, a little chicken broth...
-[Guy] A little bit. -[Eric] ...garlic,
-bit of sazon. -[Hunter] Love the sazon
[Eric] Salt, adobo...
-[Guy] Oregano. -[Eric] Oregano, black pepper,
and then we add our rice.
-[Guy] Come to a simmer. -Let it sit 20 minutes.
Then we'll add our peas and our corn.
-Now how do we do the beans? -[Eric] Some oil, peppers,
onions, some garlic.
-Right. -[Eric] Once you start smelling it,
then we start adding tomato sauce,
oregano, bacon and beans with a little bit of water,
and then, we'll just let that simmer.
Take this out the pot.
[Guy] So the birria that I come from is shredded on a tortilla.
What part of the country is this from?
From Jackson Heights. Uh...
I came up with it.
-All right. -[Guy] So consomme, rice and beans.
[muffled] Really good.
The beans are money.
The rice, dude.
-With a little kiss of the corn in there? -[Hunter] Yeah.
-For the sweetness. -Are you enjoy it?
-Yeah. -[Guy] The brisket,
and this is the braising liquid.
That's capital T tender.
Consomme is delicious. I dig it.
The meat is to die for. It's break-apart pork tender.
His beans are out of this world, and his rice is just perfect.
There really isn't anything that isn't amazing.
As soon as the plates come out, you hear the "wow"
and how they talk about the food
that basically came from a dollar and a dream. You know, it's just...
-Amen, brother. -You're a good dude. You're a good dude.
Come check out Heights 167.
-A good dude right here. -Nice job.
[Guy] Coming up... I'm meeting Chef Ming Tsai
at our buddy's joint at Cambridge, Mass...
Mouth is watering.
[Guy] ...for some dumplings with a Turkish twist...
I could eat my body weight in this.
...and crab cheese mac taken to the max.
That right there, bro, outstanding.
Ming, I got to be honest with you.
Driving through Boston, it's not easy, man.
Dude, that's why I said you should let me drive.
Oh, there's no way Chef Ming Tsai is driving my Camaro.
Anyhow, where are we?
We're in Central Square here in Cambridge.
You've got MIT down the road. You got a Harvard over here.
I went... I went to both.
I was just on a tour, but I went there.
Anyhow, where are we going?
[Ming] So we're gonna see buddy Ken Oringer...
-[Guy sighs] -...who's amazing.
I love this guy. This is Little Donkey.
You never told me we were going here.
Plating up duck wings.
Ken Oringer has a bunch of restaurants in the Boston area,
and Little Donkey is one of my favorites.
Lamb BLTs.
What makes Little Donkey so special?
I think it's the playfulness.
Whatever Kenny and the team wants to do.
That's the attraction.
[man] They take, like, classic flavors from all around the world,
and they'll add their own little spin to it.
Asian, Mexican, Italian.
[Ken] Spinach in the artichoke.
How long you guys known each other?
Twenty-five years.
-[Guy] How long has the Donkey been here? -Eight years now.
-What was the inspiration? -[Ken] Food that you want to cook
when people come to your house.
No rules. If I want to serve oysters
-and I want to serve cookie dough for ice cream... -[laughs]
...that's Little Donkey.
Your executive chef has got to love this.
Darrell, he's traveled all over so he can do anything.
-What are we cooking today? -Manti,
which are these meat and lamb raviolis.
It's a street food from Istanbul.
Three manti, all day.
[man] They have a little bit of cream on top.
It's a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor.
First what we're gonna do is make Aleppo oil.
So we've got oil, garlic, Aleppo pepper.
It's like a Mexican chili, but with, I think, more complexity.
It's like green chili flake.
What are we stuffing inside of the manti?
-[Ken] You need lamb... -I mean, everybody's got some dumpling, samosa, pot sticker.
[Ken] Of course, the Chinese were the first.
-With Ming, you can't even argue these things. -Don't even start.
-[all laughing] -[Ken] Beef,
Aleppo oil, grated onions, parsley, ground cumin.
-We invented that too. -Ground coriander...
[both laughing]
-[Ken] ...salt... -Fresh cracked black pepper.
[Ken] Mix this up.
We have to make our pasta dough.
-We're gonna make the dough? -[Ken] Of course.
Overachiever.
[Ken] Flour, salt, we add the eggs, water.
Now that those are formed, we're gonna knead that out and let it rest.
And then we, uh, sheet it.
So we're gonna take our wonton dough.
It's funny you call it a wonton dough.
[Ken] I wouldn't call it wonton dough if you weren't here.
I got to make you feel good.
Bench flour, roll it out.
Send it on through, buddy. One more time.
You don't want it thin because this is a dish that's served on the street.
[Guy] Sexy cutter.
Take a little lamb and beef, throw it right in the middle.
-[Guy] How many come with an order? -[Ken] Seven.
So Ming's not getting any today.
[both laughing]
[Guy] Not everybody gets to be in the band.
Someone's got to tune the guitar.
[Ken] Take a little water, around the brim.
[Guy] So this is it.
That's a lot of work, bro.
So now for the garlic yogurt. Yogurt, grated garlic, the salt, and that's it.
-Next? -The Aleppo Boston ghee.
Ghee being the...
-clarified butter. -It's a lot of butter.
[Guy] Just letting it melt.
[Ken] Aleppo, tomato paste,
-We're gonna definitely toast the spices a little. -Okay.
[Ken] Cook the rawness of the tomato paste out.
Now we're gonna plate our manti.
-Boil these in salted water? -[Ken] Yep.
Pop in a bowl, the Aleppo butter,
a little pinch of salt.
I could eat my body weight in this.
[Ming] Those look so good.
Ming, you wanna give that a...
-little bit of the garlic yogurt? -[Ming] Yeah. There we go.
And a little bit of Aleppo to garnish.
-That looks fantastic. -Ming, there you go.
-[laughs] -I'm sorry about that, Ming.
It's all right. I got a spoon.
I got to get more sauce.
I love the texture of the... of the dough,
-like a real ravioli, but thicker. -[Ken] Yeah.
-I like it. I like that... -[Ken] It's not that delicate.
-Keep talking. -Wow.
It's a peasant dish.
I love the particulate that you get from the Aleppo in the butter.
But the real kicker on this is that garlic yogurt.
The creaminess and the cold, to the warm and the hot.
Wow! So good.
[man] I got the manti for you, miss.
The texture, that slight al dente from the pasta, really good.
I can taste, like, the cumin in it.
And that yogurt sauce mixed really well with everything.
I've got the street noodles for you.
In Boston, two legends of Triple D.
Jay Hajj from Mike's City Diner,
Bobby "The Butcher", The Tuckaway Tavern
and all the competitions that he's done in Guy's Grocery Games,
all the volunteering he does for the Guy Fieri Foundation.
Jay, how do you describe the menu?
The menu is a little bit of everything. It's incredible.
I love everything about it.
-Ming, last one? -Absolutely.
-But the thing that... -Sorry, man.
-[laughs hysterically] -You know what?
They're actually not that good.
-[laughs] -A little doughy.
Yeah, I don't know. I want another one.
Listen, it's complete shenanigans.
We're hanging out at the Little Donkey in Boston
with Chef Ming, Chef Kenny Oringer.
We'll be back after this.
All right, let's cook some more.
I'm trying to make a personal evaluation right now
-whether or not to house this entire thing... -[laughs]
...and take a nap in the car.
Welcome back. Triple D hanging out in Boston with two legends,
the one and only Chef Kenny Oringer, and, of course, Ming Tsai,
at the Little Donkey.
It's everything you want to cook the way you want to cook it,
-any style, any method. -100%.
Crab mac and cheese. Need a runner.
[man] This is the crab mac and cheese with tteokbokki,
which is, like, a Korean rice cake. It's great.
[Guy] This is your executive chef, Darrell's, baby?
-[Ken] Oh, yeah. -Let's get into this.
Some onions, celery, carrots,
thyme and parsley, peppercorns, fennel seeds,
bay leaf, fennel, garlic and tomato paste,
white wine, cold water,
and just let it infuse, and we're gonna strain it out.
So now we're gonna make cheese fondue.
This is a gluten free mac and cheese.
There's no roux.
Heavy cream, green chili sauce.
Whoa! That is fantastic.
Cheddar, processed cheese.
You can say whatever you want about processed American cheese,
that is the silky creaminess.
-You need all that texture. -I agree.
[Ken] A little bit of Parmesan.
Bring this to a boil,
pour it over, cover it with plastic wrap and let it chill.
Throw it in a blender to make sure everything's nice and smooth.
Now we're gonna make some toasted bread crumbs.
[Guy] How's the breadcrumbs gluten free?
A new bakery that we just opened up called Verveine Cafe and Bakery.
[Guy] You named it after your daughter.
-Your daughter's gluten free? -Yeah.
-So your whole bakery... -[Ken] Naturally gluten free.
-Nobody would ever know. -And this is because he's a great father.
He's like, "Oh, I'm gonna build a restaurant and a bakery for you."
It's unbelievable.
[Guy] Toast the breadcrumbs and then we'll put the dish together.
So this is the rice cake that we're going to rehydrate...
-With the veg stock. -In the veg stock. Okay.
[Ken] Cheese fondue. We cooked that down a little bit.
We add our crab.
-[Guy] You wanna keep those big lumps. -[Ken] Yeah.
-Salt and pepper. -Mouth is watering.
[Guy] It's the anticipation of this going on.
Cheddar parm, bread crumbs now.
[Ken] And then we're gonna go in the oven.
[Ming] Mmm.
[Ken] A little bit of Old Bay, chopped chives.
[Ming] It looks hot.
Hmm.
That's money.
That is ridiculous.
I'm not saying this because these are my buddies.
It's super flavorful, like a ton of cheese.
[Ming] It just coats it.
It's not this heavy, cloying cheese sauce.
[Guy] The lumpy crab in there is outstanding.
The toasted breadcrumb, you need that texture.
You need that little crunch inside of it.
-[Ming] The wine in your veg stock... -[Guy] True that.
That adds that little bit of the acid you need to cut through the richness.
-Yeah. -It's... It's remarkable.
[Guy] You should do a cooking show.
Nah!
-That's good. -That's all Darrell.
We can't talk about the Darrell
if we don't meet the real Darrell.
That right there, bro,
-outstanding! -Awesome.
[Darrell] Crab going in,
A forkful of pasta and crab all in one bite
really brings the flavors together.
I really like the chewiness of the pasta in there.
It blows my mind that this is gluten-free.
-I'd crush this entire dish. -Yeah.
Crab fried rice, need a runner.
You definitely need to stop by Little Donkey.
It's really creative and really tasty.
You always got to take people down this path of
like, "I'm gonna tell you what you're getting,
and then I'm gonna just hang a hard right."
And I think that that adventurous energy
and attitude about food, I think it opens people's minds.
-Congrats, man. I'm excited. -Thanks.
[Guy] Coming up, a down-home spot in Indianapolis...
If I lived here, I'd be here once a week. I promise you that.
[Guy] ...s erving up off-the-chain chicken...
-Mmm! -...fried...
-Delicious. -...and dumplified.
The flavor's outrageous.
You're literally going to have to drag this away from me.
So I'm here in Indianapolis,
right in the heart of town, to check out a soul food joint.
Not just any soul food joint, no.
They've been pulling recipes from their family members
all over the South.
They've got the staples, they got the mac and cheese,
they got the meat loaf, they got the greens.
They've got the fried chicken, the chicken and dumplings.
You want it? They got it.
This is Pa and Ma's Backyard Barbecue.
Catfish, sweet potatoes and greens.
When you walk into this place,
you're walking into your grandma's kitchen.
It's not from a can. It's not from the microwave.
We got some brisket. Uh-huh.
Good Southern cooking.
As close as you can get.
You can't get any closer.
-[Guy] And from the portions to the personality... -You're the boss.
[chuckles]
...owners George and Monica Nelson
pour passion into every plate.
He had a dream to be a restaurateur.
So, what are the specialties of the house?
We were voted Best Fried Chicken in the city.
Fried chicken. We're gonna do dark meat.
I love the fried chicken.
Fried corn and cornbread,
it's right-off-the-top fresh.
[Guy] What are we doing first?
The brine for this chicken.
[Guy] Hot water, salt, black pepper.
[George] Poultry seasoning, white pepper,
thyme, sage, granulated garlic,
little sugar.
-Raw garlic. -[George] Pickle juice.
So, let this go a couple hours to a whole day.
-All right, Chef. -[George] We're gonna make our dredge. Flour.
[Guy] Granulated garlic.
White pepper, cayenne pepper,
black pepper.
Poultry seasoning, some salt and some onions.
Dredge this.
Try to do the wet hand, dry hand thing, if you can remember.
-Ha! See? -Yeah. You got me. You got me.
-[Guy] 350. -[George] For 15 minutes.
All right, Chef. What's up next?
Fried corn. This is a really Deep South recipe.
Margarine, flour. Build a roux.
-[Guy] Red bell pepper. -[George] Green bell pepper.
Thyme, black pepper.
-[Guy] Hit the onion? -[George] Yep. Corn.
-Right off the cob. -Rosemary, salt.
Sun dried tomatoes?
That's California right there, buddy.
[George] We cook for a lot of different people.
[Guy] And you love your garlic.
The new Southern way is to put the garlic in there.
-[Guy] There's lot of flavor in that, buddy. -Yeah. And some sugar.
What's the last thing?
-Well, we're gonna make the cornbread. -The hot water cornbread.
Now, this is a feel thing.
I feel like I want to eat it.
Okay, let's go.
Start with a bowl of cornmeal and add hot water.
You're just gonna kind of add it
-until you get that texture that you're looking for. -Yeah.
[Guy] Margarine and a few eggs.
Simple. Cook it on the flattop about two or three minutes.
-All right, boss. -[George] Let's plate the dish.
Fried corn, cornbread,
You've got a wing, thigh, and a breast
I love the fried corn.
Hot corn bread is delicious.
I love the crust and the crunch that it's got on it,
When you talk about juicy chicken,
look at the juice coming out of that chicken.
Delicious.
-Order up. -We'd eat chicken every day if we could.
Fried corn was delicious.
-I would travel just to go get the hot water cornbread. -Just to get that.
How do you describe this place?
Comfortable and inviting.
Enjoy!
I grew up in the business.
My grandfather and my grandmother had a restaurant.
How many kids do you have?
-Two. -Do they work here, too?
They started the business with us.
They worked in the heat suites.
-In the where? -In the heat suites.
-And that is the kitchen? -In the kitchen ha ha.
-[laughs] -What's going on with you, brother?
They are people persons.
[Monica] Want to do an extra wing? We can do that.
I'm just seeing what you don't finish.
I'm gonna finish everything.
I knew I picked the wrong people to sit with.
Two orders of chicken and dumplings, coming up.
Today, I had the chicken and dumplings.
It's a lot of chicken.
[woman] The dumplings are hand rolled and cut.
It's just a big bowl of comfort.
Take it away, boss.
[George] We're gonna make the stock for our chicken and dumplings.
Pot of water.
Drop this chicken in. A little egg shade.
-[Guy] A little color to it. -A whole celery.
-Let me guess. -Chopped garlic.
[Guy] This guy loves garlic.
You know, keep the doctor away. Chicken base.
-Granulated garlic, with some rosemary. -And some sage.
Black pepper, onions, the salt.
-How long we gonna let this go? -[George] About three hours.
Bring it out, pull off the skin,
shred the meat, and then we'll strain this.
Are we adding veggies back into the stock?
Celery and onions, egg shade, thyme, a cornstarch slurry,
pepper, salt, brine, chicken thighs.
And then we'll add the dumplings, you know.
Well, we got to make the dumplings, you know, before we add them.
Okay, let's get into it.
[George] We've got mashed potatoes here.
So what we're gonna do is take some flour, margarine.
[Guy] So we're almost making gnocchi.
Yeah, but this recipe comes from slavery.
Once you get the feel of it,
-that's when we're going to put the egg in. -The egg in.
-Right in the center? -Yep.
Then we're gonna slap it on this table.
Just a little bit more flour.
A nice little ball here.
And we're gonna roll it out.
This is all you're gonna do.
Big ol' dumplings.
Now, how long are we gonna let this cook?
[George] Fifteen, 20 minutes.
Ah! I can't wait to get in that. I'm gonna get in that whole pot.
[George] And then we'll add the iced-up chicken breast.
[Guy] Look at the portion!
If the one thing you can say when you leave Pa and Ma's
is we gave you too much food...
-The one thing you say is, "I fell asleep at my table." -[chuckles]
Some do.
[Guy] The flavor is outrageous,
but it's the texture of the dumpling that I enjoy the most.
So delicate and so tender and not spongy.
It's delicious.
It's mindful.
-You're literally gonna have to drag this away from me. -[chuckles]
Good afternoon. Here is your plate of chicken and dumplings.
It's creamy, seasoned really good.
The broth was just right.
And then the chicken is so tender,
it just falls off the fork.
Gumbo jambalaya.
It's the best soul food in the city.
If I lived here, I'd be here once a week. I promise you that.
This is a must-see, must-visit, must-experience.
-Well, thank you. -Mmm!
That's it for this week, but don't you worry,
I'll be looking for more joints all over this country.
I'll see you next week on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
What, who am I cooking with today?
George.
-She's the front. I'm the grunt. -Yeah.
-[chuckling] She's the front, I'm the grunt. -Front and...
and we're going to the sweat suite.
-Yeah. -The heat suite.
The heat suite, sweat suite, heat suite.